Shield for garment fastenings or the like



Oct. 19, 1954 F, 5 z c s SHIELD FOR GARMENT FASTENINGS OR THE LIKE Filed 001;. 8 1951 INVENTOR 2 3. liamlhfis ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 19, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHIELD FOR GARMENT FASTENINGS OR THE LIKE Claims.

This invention relates to attachments for articles of apparel and more particularly to protectors, shields, or guards for buckles, clips, clasps or the like to prevent them from irritating, cutting, or otherwise harming those portions of the body with which they come in contact.

The general object of invention is to provide a novel and improved article of the class described which is of simple construction, is easy to make and apply, and affords ample protection and comfort in use with a wide variety of garment or appliance fastenings.

In one exemplary embodiment of the invention, the novel protective article or guard is applied to a catamenial belt, and it is in this connection that the invention is illustrated and described in the present application.

Belts of this type generally comprise a band of elastic material encircling the waist or hips and having short straps, usually of elastic also, which depend from the central front and rear portions of the belt. At the lower ends of these depending straps are secured clips or clasps, usually of a simple, non-articulated, toothed or pronged type, which are adapted to provide a quickly engageable and detachable connection with the end portions of the gauze envelope or covering of the catamenial pad.

In spite of the efiorts to make these clips as simple, thin and unobtrusive as possible, they still comprise a source of irritation and discomfort to the wearer, especially to those who must remain in a sitting position for long periods of time, such as factory or office workers. The invention therefore contemplates the provision of a tab of laminated structure which is secured to the belt or the depending strap and receives the clip or clasp together with the attached end of the gauze extension of the pad and completely surrounds the detachable connection.

The tab is provided with a fabric loop which is preferably passed through one of the loops by which the depending straps are connected to the belt. Between the inner and outer cloth layers of the tab, and preferably secured snugly to the inner layer of fabric, is a thin lamination of foam rubber. This layer of foam rubber serves two purposes, namely, to reinforce the tab to ensure that it lies flat against the body and does not turn edgewise, crumple, or twist itself around the clip, and furthermore it provides a soft cushion between the clip and the body.

Although the tab can be applied to both the front and rear straps and connections, it is of much greater utility as applied to the rear connection since it is at this point that the clip comes into contact with the lower sacral vertebrae or the coccyx at the extreme end of the sacrum. While the forward clip comes into contact with fleshy portions of the body, the rear one rests against a bony structure and it is at this point where the protection is most necessary.

In view of the peculiar and intimate functional relationship of the protecting shield or tab to the catamenial belt, it becomes a further object of the invention to provide a novel catamenial appliance including the belt and the attached guard for the supporting clip, especially as applied to the clip which is worn at the rear of the body.

Other objects and features of novelty will be apparent from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which one embodiment of the invention is illustrated by way of example.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the application of the invention to the appliance as worn upon the body;

Figure 2 is a view in elevation of the rear portion of the appliance with the outer fabric layer of the tab removed;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view showing the tab in elevation and in its applied position;

Figure 4 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken on line 44 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a view in perspective showing the tab or guard pulled upwardly upon the strap to expose the buckle or clip; and

Figure 7 is a similar view showing one form of connection at the front of the belt.

The catamenial belt itself, which may be basically of any suitable type, is indicated in the drawings by the reference numeral I0 and comprises a band or belt portion proper which is indicated by the reference numeral I I. The band H encircles the waist or the hips as shown in Figure 1 and, if made of elastic as preferred, it may be of endless construction and applied to the body by stretching or expanding it to the necessary extent. Alternatively, the belt may be provided with any sort of buckle and the ends may be secured together in the usual way. In Figure 7, one end of the band i I is shown passed through the ring l3 to form a loop l2 and the band is extensible and contractable by sliding the buckle [5 to which the end is attached, along the belt H. The opposite end of the band I! is provided with a loop [5 which also receives the ring l3.

I the drawings.

The forward depending strap I6 is also looped through the lower portion of the ring 13 and through a narrow opening in the clip I! at the lower end of the strap. In Figure '7 the forward clip is shown as not being provided with a tab, although within the broad scope of the invention a protective tab could be applied to this clip as well as the rear one.

In Figures 2 and 3 the rear tab and strap *connection are shown. In this particular form of belt, the rear depending strap 20) is itself made in the form of loops, similar to the forward strap 16, the upper loop 2! passing around the belt H and adjustable therealong to the proper central position. The main loop portion of the strap 20 passes through an opening in the upper end of the clip I], and the clip is provided with other openings 23 and 24 the margins of which are formed with teeth or prongs as at 25 and 26 respectively. As most clearly shown in Figures 2 .and .4, the twisted and'contracted end 28 of the gauze envelope or cover 29 of the pad 30 is passed through both of the openings 23 and 24 in succession and securely held therein by impalement ,on the teeth 25 and 26. Obviously, the opposite end -of the gauze is secured to the clip ll attached to the forward strap 15 of the belt, this -forwardedarrangement being shown in Figure 7 ,of the drawings.

linorder to prevent the clips I! from injuring .or irritating the body, particularly the bony structure with which the rear clip comes into contact, the novel shields or guards 35 are provided. Each of these shields comprises a lami- .-nated envelope or pocket of flat tubular construction and consists of the inner fabric layer .36 and the outer fabric layer .37, together with an intermediate layer of foam rubber 38. The upper and lower ends of the tab are open, but the side margins of all three layers are stitched together by means of the overcasting 39. The

efoam rubber layer'38 is more closely adherent to the rear or inner fabric layer 36 and in fact may .be secured or bonded to this fabric by means of adhesive, or in anyother suitable or known manher. The tab 35 is applied to the strap 20 of the belt and the clip so that these parts, together with the secured ends of the pad gauze, lie between the outer fabric layer 3? and the foam rubber layer 38 as clearly shown in Figures 4 and of the drawings.

The tab as a whole is suspended from the belt means-of a loop formed in the fabric strap l-(l, ends A! .of the strap being interposed at the edges of the tab 35 between the outer fabric layer 3 and the rubber layer 38 and stitched firmly in place as clearly shown in Figures 3 and 5 of The loop 40 itself may pass around any convenient part of the belt .or band H or the depending strap 20. In the embodi- ,Jment shown, the loop d0 passes through the upper loop 2! of the strap 26, which loop is the one which surrounds the main portion or band .H of the belt.

When applied as shown .in Figures -1 and .2 of the drawings, the belt ill with its protective pad 35 ,provides a very convenient, safe, and com- ..fortable catamenial appliance, the padding .of the 4 the gauze of the pad, the ,clip I! may be very readily exposed by pulling the tab 35 upwardly as clearly shown in Figure 6 of the drawings. After the attachment or disengagement has been effected, the crumpled or shortened tab is released and due to the resilience of the foam rubber layer 38, immediately resumes its fiat extended position enclosing the clip ll.

It will be understood that the enlarged views, particularly the sectional views, .in the drawings are somewhat exaggerated for the sake of clearness of illustration, and that the novel shield or protector is actually a relatively thin article which does not 'perceptibly add to the bulk or thickness of the attachment, but rather tends to maintain the connection flatter and less bulky claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

l. A catamenial belt comprising, in combination, a band adapted to encircle the waist of the wearer, a strap depending from said band, loop connections between the two above .named parts, .a =catamenial pad supporting clip carriedat the lower depending end of said strap, and .a thin, flat, padded, non-metallic, flexible, protective envelope enclosing said clip,'means suspending said envelope from said band comprising a loop cf fabric tape which is secured to said envelope and separately formed and interengaged with said loop connections between the band and the clip supporting strap, said envelope being open at its lower edge, the attaching of the envelope at an upper point remote from the clip and the flexibility thereof permitting the envelope to be displaced bodily upwardly from the clip to assist in exposing the latter through said open lower edge of the envelope.

'2. A protective shield for removably enclosing buckles, clasps and the like on apparel and body appliances, said shield comprising a relatively broad, laminar, flattened tubular fabric member adapted to enclose the clip and being open only at an end thereof for access to the clip, 'a loose "tenuous attaching strand secured to said shield and adapted to be attached to the garment or appliance which carries the clip and of a length allowing an appreciablerange of bodily movement of 'said member relative to said appliance and said clip, one wall of said flattened tubular member being reinforced with a relatively thin layer of resilient material which serves not only to cushion the contact of the clip with the wearers body .but to maintain the flat position of the clip and its attached parts against the body and prevent 'twisting,.while at the same time permitting resilient retraction of the member to expose the clip.

'3. Apro'tective shield as set forth in claim 2 in which the reinforcing layer of resilient material 'is made of foam rubber.

4. A protective shield for removably enclosing buckles, clasps and the like on apparel and body -appliances,said shield comprising a soft, flexible, resilient, laminated, non-metallic, relatively broad, flattened, tubular envelope consisting of an inner fabric layer adapted to be positioned nearest the 'wearers body, a relatively thin layer of resilient material disposed next to said first named layer and finally an outer layer of fabric, the three layers being substantially conterminous, means securing said layers together along their side edges but leaving the top and bottom edges unsecured, a loop of tape having its ends secured to the upper portions of the respective side edges of said envelope, said clip adapted to be received between said resilient layer and the outer fabric layer and accessible through one of said open edges, and said looped tape adapted to be engaged with a portion of the garment or appliance which carries said clip.

5. A protective shield for removably enclosing buckles, clasps and the like on apparel and body appliances, said shield comprising a soft, flexible, resilient, laminated, non-metallic, relatively broad flattened, tubular envelope consisting of an inward fabric layer adapted to be positioned nearest the wearers body, a relatively thin layer of foam rubber disposed next to said first named layer and adhesively bonded thereto, and finally an outer layer of fabric, the three layers being substantially conterminous, stitching securing said layers together along their side edges but leaving the top and bottom edges unsecured, a loop of tape having its ends secured to the upper portions of the respective side edges of said envelope by the same stitching employed in uniting said edges, said clip adapted to be received between said rubber layer and the outer fabric layer and accessible through one of said open edges, and said looped tape adapted to be engaged with a portion of the garment or appliance which carries said clip.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

